Symbols of the Unknown

Chapter Nine: The Reunion

"Alyiah Vernasa," the redhead said, still with a look of disbelief, "where the hell have you been?" Alyiah looked at her old friend for a minute, her appearance had definitely changed, but she was still the same girl underneath it all. One new thing, however, stuck out to Alyiah. There was a large scar that looked like it had come from a gnarly knife down her cheek, with burn scars around it.

"It's good to see you too Rebeka," Alyiah said with a grin. Rebeka had been her only friend for as long as she could remember. She had caught Alyiah stealing food from the bar when it was still her parent's and they were both teenagers. She gave her more, and a bag to carry it in, and sent her on her way. Alyiah came back the next day and introduced herself, and after that they had always been close. Alyiah gave Rebeka a recap of the last five years, starting with the day the Zeliphan chased her and ending with her accidental arrival back on Aetheria. Rebeka let out a long whistle.

"I had heard about the day you were chased, everyone did. The Zeliphan made it out to look like all the carnage was your fault, and called you a terrorist against the entire planet. I knew it was a load of crap, though. If you wanted to take this planet down you would've been successful," Rebeka said, with a big laugh, before turning to Robert, "So you're from this planet she's been on, Earth?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, a couple of days ago that's the only planet I thought I'd ever be on," Rob replied, making Alyiah laugh a little.

"Is it nice there, was she comfortable?" Rebeka asked.

"Yeah, it's quite nice, though a little boring compared to here, from the looks of it. And Thomas, the man who took her in, is a good man. I'm sure he made it nice for her," Rob answered.

"Good," Rebeka said with a sigh.

"Bek, I hate to ask, but what happened to-" Alyiah started, pointing at her own cheek.

"Well, the Zeliphan bastards REALLY wanted to know where you went," Rebeka said with a grimace, "I may not have known, but even if I did I wasn't telling them a damn thing. They tortured me for a day or so, before deciding it wasn't worth their time. They put out pictures of you all over the city for a few months, with a huge bounty. But they finally took most of those down. Most of the injuries were small enough that they healed, but when they cut my cheek with this weird dagger, the head guy said he wanted me to remember not to mess with them. But hey, it makes me look more badass, and people skip their tickets a lot less now."

"I'm so sorry," Alyiah said, with a tear rolling down her cheek. Why did she have to cause so much pain. First Robert's wife, now her best friend.

"Hey, don't you go feeling guilty. First of all, from what you told me you didn't mean to do a damn thing. Second of all, the only people I blame for this is the bastards that did it," Rebeka said sternly, "speaking of, do you two have a plan to deal with them?" Robert and Alyiah looked at each other. Rob wiped the tear off her cheek, then turned to Rebeka and put on his best official voice.

"Not yet, but what we want to do right now is gather as much intel as we can on them," Robert said, "do you know anywhere we can do that?"

"Well I do hear a thing or two from people coming in and out of the bar," she answered, "let's see what we can figure out."

The three of them discussed what to do, and Rebeka went outside to some of her regulars if they knew anywhere to get information on the Zeliphan. Most either didn't know or were too scared to give information, but one finally gave a tip that seemed useful. There was an old archive across town, but it was restricted access, to elite members only. The three considered this for a while, and decided their best bet was to check it out.

They went out the back of the bar, to avoid any unwanted attention and Rob immediately saw Rebeka's car. It made the first one look like a fix-me-up. He was secretly very excited for this ride. They got in and Rebeka told the car where to take them, and then got refreshments for everyone. Looking back at Robert, Alyiah asked the car to take a longer, more scenic route.

The city was insane. Robert didn't think he'd ever be able to get over that. And this was just normal for the people here. They were leagues beyond anything Earth had to offer. Before too long, though, the trip was coming to an end, and they could see the archives. It was a gloomy looking building, and everyone fell silent as the car came to a stop. Where did they go from here? Normally Robert would take charge of situations like this, but this was way out of his field. Finally, the three got out of the car and walked toward the entrance. They figured maybe they could just talk their way in.

When they walked in the main entrance, they noticed just how empty the place was. Visitors were few and far between. They definitely wouldn't be able to just sneak through a crowd. There was a front desk, and two security guards past it before the main area. As they approached, an older man in uniform spoke up. "Hello and welcome to the city's number one archive on everything Aetheria. Are you new or returning members?" the man asked in a voice devoid of emotion.

"Uh, we're new." Alyiah answered the man.

"Yes, I can see that now," the man said, eyeing Alyiah and Roberts' grimy clothes. They weren't too different from Aetherian garments, they just looked like something the homeless would wear here. "What is your reason for trying to become a member today?"

"We want to do some reading on the culture of the Zeliphan." Alyiah said, before getting a bad look from Rebeka. Oops. The man's eyes suddenly widened. He was suddenly a lot more interested in this conversation.

"Is that so?" he asked, "well if I could just get your names for the membership."

"My name is Al-" she started to respond, before Rebeka cut her off.

"Alyssa, her name is Alyssa, I'm Regina, and this fellow here is Ryan," Rebeka said, trying to save their asses. She pulled out a datapad she appeared to have hacked, "Here is my ID, I'll be the owner of the account, they will just be my guests." The man eyed her suspiciously. He scanned the datapad, and when everything appeared to check out he sent them on their way. As they walked into the main area he waved one of the security guards over and whispered into their ear. The guard quickly left the building. They were in.